KBR, Inc. has announced that the SOCAR-KBR Limited Liability Company (SKLLC) joint venture has been awarded a Front-End Engineering Design (FEED) contract for the topsides of the Absheron Early Production Project. The platform will be located at SOCAR’s Oil Rocks facility and will deliver gas and condensate into the SOCAR network.

This award marks the 3rd award to the SKLLC joint venture since its inception in mid-2015. SKLLC was formed to help further Azerbaijan’s ambition for creating a world-class Azerbaijan based engineering company.

SOCAR and Total signed a framework agreement in late 2016 on the main contractual and commercial principles regulating the program for the first phase of development of the Absheron field. At the first stage, the field development includes drilling one well at a depth of 450 metres. The extraction will amount to 1.5 billion cubic metres of gas a year, which will fully flow to the domestic market of Azerbaijan, as well as significant amounts of condensate. First gas could be produced in 2019.

SKLLC, a local Azerbaijani company, is built on the combined 110 years of experience between KBR and SOCAR. The joint venture partners KBR’s experience in the Azerbaijan, Georgia, Turkey region and its proven tools, systems and procedures with SOCAR’s operational knowledge and experience in the oil and gas sector. KBR has been working in Azerbaijan for over 24 years, giving it unrivalled experience and knowledge of local onshore and offshore greenfield and brownfield assets.

“We are proud to bring the unmatched experience, vision, and leadership of SKLLC to this strategic project,” says Jay Ibrahim, KBR’s President for Europe, Middle East and Africa. “Azerbaijan is an important market for KBR and our strong Azerbaijani and international team members are dedicated to success for the region.”

“Our local engineering capability is growing day by day and currently more than 75% of our team is local Azerbaijani staff,” Ibrahim continues. “We are happy to see positive impacts of this growth on the local engineering market and oil and gas industry and I am confident that SKLLC will be a home for Azerbaijan engineers where they can enjoy working for various projects and deliver many more successful projects for clients in the region,” Ibrahim adds.

The value of the contract will be booked into the backlog of unfilled orders for KBR’s Engineering & Construction business segment in Q4 of 2017.

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